Neutrality in Business

By Adam | 12 Feb 2016 12:00:00

In today's blog post I would like to talk a bit about the importance of remaining neutral with your business. What do I mean by this? Well, what I am talking about is that you must not take a side in social or political issues. Occasionally, it may be a good idea to avoid this rule, but generally speaking, neutrality is best.

Let me tell you about a piece of social media marketing I came across the other day. I don't want to reveal the name of the business involved, but they're a business who sold health related items and tried to convey themselves as an expert in the field of health. Sadly, this health business shared an 'inspirational image' on their Twitter feed that said "positive things happen to people with positive attitudes" which, actually, reveals a worrying lack of understanding when it comes to mental health. In reality, many people with unhappy lives end up feeling even sadder, because they believe their misfortune may have been partly caused by their lack of a positive attitude. Saying that positive things happen to positive people inherently implies that they do not happen to negative people and so feeds into the unhealthy perspective that they are partly responsible for their unhappy circumstances. This is not something a health business should be sharing. I know that example is a little longwinded, but before you share things on any of your social media pages, you need to be sure that there aren't any messages which might undermine you like that. What most probably happened, in regards to that health business, was that it was thoughtlessly shared on their Twitter without much thought after it was found somewhere else - but how many people who suffer with mental illnesses like anxiety and depression may have been offended and decided to stop buying from them?

There are a lot of things shared around the internet which, when considered, actually contain somewhat problematic messages and so should not be shared by businesses. Having said that, while neutrality is very important, if you feel that a certain group within society are oppressed, you might want to try to appeal to them specifically with your marketing to show that you oppose any perceived injustices. This would be a good way to reach out to potential customers and to get people to view your business in a positive light. People who disagree with you may not want to buy from your business, however, but if you feel very passionately about it, you may not be too bothered to lose those customers. Generally, your business's stance on any issue is down to you, but neutrality is always a good idea. It would be a bad idea to share something making jokes about women, but it could then also be a bad idea to share posts about the importance of feminism. If you have strong beliefs, they will likely shine through in your businesses marketing and other areas, so you need not worry too much about drawing attention to your perspectives specifically. Whatever you decide to do, I hope that your eCommerce business will benefit from it.